Campus Drive business complex in Newtown Township, Delaware County (Credit: Google StreetView)
The change passed, 4-1, despite public outcry.
Despite about a dozen residents speaking out against a proposal to change the zoning of about 90 acres of the Campus Boulevard office park, the Newtown Township Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to approve a zoning overlay on Feb. 9.
Supervisor Kathryn Chandless voted, “no.”
Some 235 people also signed a petition asking the supervisors to acquire the office buildings and turn the area into “green space.”
Under the zoning change, the Campus Boulevard Redevelopment District is now a mixed-use district and permits uses by “conditional use,” including an age-restricted residential community, assisted living facility, schools, entertainment, restaurants, outpatient surgery center, micro-hospital, and indoor public storage facility.
Supervisors' Chair Len Altieri said that without these changes, developers could build 500 housing units. The township had until Feb. 28 to pass this ordinance, he said.
“If you do not hear that application during that time period, it’s considered an approval.
And any protections the township wants to build into it, go by the wayside,” he said..
The developers with pending housing plans were Campus Fourteen Associates, LP, which planned more than 250 units, Campus Eleven Associates, LP, which wanted to build more than 160 units, and the remaining units were planned by John and Joan Mullen, said Altieri.
Instead of 500 housing units, the three developers would only be able to build a total of 250, Altieri explained later. He called this “a huge win” for the township.
Many residents have requested the supervisors put the brakes on more housing development, he said.
In supporting documents, the township said, the Newtown Square Corporate Campus was developed in the 1980s and 1990s, and was a victim of the COVID epidemic, when people began working from home, and offices emptied out, never to return to their previous occupancy. Now buildings on the office campus stand empty and blighted.
Altieri explained that any developer would need to go through the land development process.
“All we’re doing is reimagining how we can use those 90 acres,” he said. Altieri said the township wanted to move away from more and more apartments.
Residents who opposed the zoning change feared increased traffic, loss of “walkability,” changes to the character of the neighborhood, and increased business if businesses like a micro hospital or public storage facility are built, which would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
One Campus Boulevard resident called the change “not in the best interest of the township.”
“This is a residential neighborhood,” he said.
A woman had safety concerns “for children, seniors, and families to move through this area.”
The possible development “places additional strain on our police and fire departments, already strained by recent growth, stretching our resources even further. Approving this rezoning creates long-term concern. Growth should be thoughtful, measured, and centered on the people who call this area home,” she said.
Nathan Glazer, another resident, said, “I support the underlying concept of rezoning. Nothing can remain the same forever. It’s unreasonable. If the buildings are empty and remain empty, they’re not going to suddenly get filled.”
But he does not want housing for the elderly.
“Newtown Square abounds in the elderly. We are creaky and leaky. We are a very old community. We need more young people in this community if we’re going to thrive in the future,” said Glazer, who grew up in the township. For example, younger “healthy, energetic people” are needed as volunteer firefighters. He would like to see affordable housing for young couples just starting out.
Another use needed is a large garage next to public transportation to cut down on traffic in the area, he said.
“My second point may be an unpopular one: the number one problem we have in this town is traffic and parking,” said Glazer. Redevelopment offers a “unique opportunity,” he said. He called on officials to use “imagination.”
Altieri said the zoning change requires additional buffering to protect the existing neighborhoods from whatever is eventually built on the old office campus. Chandless could not immediately be reached for comment.
